Omar Sy may have put himself on the map when he starred as Driss in The Intouchables, as the caretaker for a fully paralyzed man. He was pretty much a genius in the way he performed his lighthearted role in an otherwise heavy loaded movie. This time, Omar shows his English skills in Le Flic de Belleville (Belleville Cop), together with Luis Guzmán, a Hollywood star who shows some signs of slowing down when it comes to bigger roles.

At the beginning of the movie we are taken to Belleville, France, where we see Sebastian ‘Baaba’ Bouchard (Omar Sy), catching a criminal. He does so with flair, and some humor, setting the proper tone for the character. Soon after he gets surprised by his childhood friend Roland (Franck Gastambide), who came all the way from Miami to Belleville to uncover a drug smuggling operation. Sadly, it seems that the perpetrators know of this ploy and they take out Roland in front of Baaba’s eyes, making it extra personal.

Baaba vows to catch the people behind Roland’s murder, but to do so he’ll have to go all the way to Miami, and work for the French embassy to have a shot at cracking the case. To his surprise, the rules are somewhat different in America and he is kept on a tight leash by his assigned partner Ricardo Garcia (Luis Guzmán). Ricardo is bothered by his babysit assignment, but as expected, he opens up to Baaba, and they become a formidable duo.

The flow of the movie is somewhat slower than for example movies such as Rush Hour, which kind of follow the same formula. Sadly, both actors aren’t as gifted in the fighting and stunt department as Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, making the movie a bit on the bland side, and at times things are very uneventful. The movie does have a few good ideas but they feel underdeveloped and slower than they could have been. Overall Le Flic de Belleville will feel like a standard detective comedy, with a lot of influences from more known movies, but it stays in a grey area for the entirety of the film.

You’ll notice that the cast is very limited for a movie in this genre. The main performances are done by Omar Sy and Luis Guzmán, who have an excellent interaction throughout the movie. Sadly the characters themselves feel a bit on the bland side, without much development, and not a lot of options in terms of action packed sequences. There are supporting characters, such as Biyouna who plays Baaba’s mother, and who is actually a very annoying character, clearly intended for comedy relief. There’s also Diem Nguyen who plays Baaba’s girlfriend Lin, who is also a rather annoying presence, as they only fight throughout the movie, because of Baaba’s attachment to his mother. The supporting roles are fairly decent, but nowhere near stellar.

The DVD edition of Le Flic de Belleville doesn’t come with any extras, which isn’t really a bad thing. Nonetheless, for a comedy it would have been nice to have a gag reel or something like that, as it would have added some extra value to actually purchase a physical version of this movie.

Conclusion

Le Flic de Belleville is a decent movie if you’re looking for a detective comedy to get through a quiet evening at home. That being said, this is one of those movies you’ll watch once and then undoubtedly forget for the rest of your life, until it accidently airs on TV, and there’s nothing else on, and your Netflix account isn’t working. The movie provides some fun, but it’s nowhere near memorable or interesting enough to consider buying at full price. Excellent material to grab from a sales bin.